The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
More than 10 percent of Malawi's inhabitants will need food aid over the next few months following massive crop failure in the south, a report said Monday. The report said 1.63 million Malawians, out of a population of 13 million, would need food aid despite a bumper harvest of three …
The National Legal Services Authority will file a social justice litigation petition in the Supreme Court for protection of rivers from sand mining operations. The decision was taken at a meeting held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Justice Altamas Kabir of the Supreme Court and NALSA executive chairman. …
Temperatures soared to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in several cities as Americans dipped into the water, went to the movies and rode the subway just to be in air conditioning for relief from unrelenting heat that has killed at least 30 people across half the country. The heat on …
Saving the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) — the centrepiece of UPA-I’s achievements in the social welfare sector — from its many critics in government and the media who view it as a drain on the exchequer will head the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC)’s agenda …
China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Friday the country has allocated 340 million yuan ($53.80 million) for regions plagued by floods and droughts. The fund, allocated by the MOF and the Ministry of Water Resources, will be spent on repairing flood-damaged water conservancy facilities in Jiangxi province, supporting flood control …
Standing crops wither; drinking water crisis aggravates, The agriculture fields in the district would have been green with the sprouting green gram, soyabean, bajra and jowar crops had it rained as per convention. But then, with the showers eluding this part of the earth, there is still the shadow of …
In a bid to deal with the dipping water level in almost all reservoirs across the State, the government on Wednesday decided to release Rs 176 crore for drought and flood-related works. Rs one crore has been earmarked for each of the 123 drought-affected taluks. Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda, as …
Guwahati: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said Assam’s erosion problem will be included in the list of the country’s natural disasters, a move that will enable the state government to spend central relief funds (CRF) to tackle the issue. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said Tuesday that the move will …
European cities are planning to adapt to climate change as the risks become more severe, a report by UK-based emissions measurement organization the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and consultancy Accenture showed on Thursday. Cities increasingly have to plan flood defenses, ways to manage water in times of drought, ensure new …
Scorching heat, high winds and bone-dry conditions are fueling catastrophic wildfires in the U.S. West that offer a preview of the kind of disasters that human-caused climate change could bring, a trio of scientists said on Thursday. "What we're seeing is a window into what global warming really looks like," …
With several states reeling under a drought-like situation as they await the monsoon, experts have pointed out that not enough is being done to deal with the situation arising out of scanty rainfall. Drought management, they say, assumes significance in view of changing weather patterns. “We are not prepared to …
The government has approved 87 projects involving over Tk 1025 crore to combat climate change impacts. The under-implementation projects include building cyclone-tolerant houses, setting up of deep tube-wells for pure drinking water, construction of dams in coastal belts, building cross dams for land reclamation, creation of green belts along the …
Climate change will make wildfires in the West, like those now raging in parts of Colorado and New Mexico, more frequent over the next 30 years, researchers reported on Tuesday. More broadly, almost all of North America and most of Europe will see an increase in wildfires by the year …
China's carbon emissions could be nearly 20 percent higher than previously thought, a new analysis of official Chinese data showed on Sunday, suggesting the pace of global climate change could be even faster than currently predicted. China has already overtaken the United States as the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, …
Jaipur: The draft report of Rajasthan State Action Plan on Climate Change has brought out some alarming facts about the water situation in the state. According to the report, the state has the highest probability of drought occurrence in the country. It also falls within areas having greatest climate sensitivity, …
So far, 2012 has been the warmest year the United States has ever seen, with the warmest spring and the second-warmest May since record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Thursday. Temperatures for the past 12 months and the year-to-date have been the warmest …
The UK's water security is at a critical point and decisive action must be taken to safeguard water resources, according to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Unveiling its State of the Nation: Water report today (June 7), the civil engineering body warned that the urgency and severity of the …
The earth's environmental systems "are being pushed towards their biophysical limits", the United Nations Environment Program says. In a 525-page report on the health of the planet, the agency paints a grim picture. It says: "Several critical global, regional and local thresholds are close or have been exceeded. "Abrupt and …
China's capital is expected to exceed its historical record of water consumption this summer, local water authorities said Friday. It is estimated that the peak day volume of water consumption in Beijing will reach 2.97 million cubic meters this summer, said Liang Li, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Waterworks Group. …
The Government must develop a long-term water resource strategy for the UK's smart water network if it is to drive water efficiency and prevent supply disruptions. That's according to global smart grid communications specialist Sensus, which has called for the UK to consider a more sustainable way of managing water …
